Thursday, August 11, 2011

08/11/2011
Noynoy Aquino is placing the
Philippines in great peril by forging a peace accord with the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels, and obviously on their terms and
conditions, which are, among others, the creation of a Moro substate
with awesome state powers and an expanded territory while granting the
rebels a national identity of BangsaMoro nation, said to be composed of
not just Muslims, but Lumads and Christians who reside in the substate.

Christians
and Lumads, neither of whom are Muslims, are to be known as BangsaMoro
nationals under the rule of the MILF even in Christian settlements, such
as Zamboanga Sibugay?

The MILF claims that secession is out of
the picture as its people will remain Filipinos, but demands a substate
with state powers, including having a BangsaMoro police force under its
control and command, and expects a peace accord to be finalized in two
years time.

Noynoy is apparently swallowing this MILF line, as
already he is talking about the grant of greater autonomy for the MILF
through a plebiscite, as though such a move would finally bring peace to
Mindanao, assuming the high court will rule such an accord as
constitutional..... MORE

08/11/2011
There is more than meets the
eye about the meeting between Noynoy and China’s foreign minister,
accompanied by the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines in Malacañang.

The
Chinese officials were Ambassador Liu Jianchao and Assistant Foreign
Minister Liu Zhenmin, who went to the Palace to deliver a message from
Chinese Premier Hu Jintao.

Prior to the meeting, Noynoy told
reporters he would be meeting with the Chinese officials who are
handing him a letter from the Chinese premier.

“They (Chinese
officials) asked for the meeting. I understand there’s a message from
Premier Hu Jintao. They did not tell me exactly what the message was.
So, I’ll be meeting them around two o’clock,” Noynoy said prior to the
meeting..... MORE

08/11/2011
BEIRUT — Though its days are
seen as numbered, Syria’s regime is likely to press on with its
ferocious crackdown on dissent, despite fellow Arab states and allies
joining international condemnation, analysts say.

That was
underscored when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, under growing
pressure from abroad, stood his ground on Tuesday and said he would
pursue a relentless war against the “terrorist groups” he says are
behind the unrest.

Rami
Khouri, head of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and
International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, said “the
regime has been fiercely resistant to international pressure and the
moves by the Saudis, the Gulf.... MORESource: The Daily Tribune

08/11/2011
Contrary to claims by
militant fisherfolk group, Pamalakaya, that President Noynoy Aquino has
no concrete plans to shield the country from another round of global
recession and that he appears just as if he is waiting for the grand
massacre of the Philippine economy as global markets collapsed due to
the first ever US credit rating downgrade and falling European economies
presided by festering debt woes, Noy indeed is making the necessary
contingency plan. That is to prepare the Philippine economy for the
“grand massacre” by selling the Philippines via amendments to the
economic provisions.

The other day, a staunch ally of Aquino,
presented the administration’s grand design to sell the Philippines by
opening up vital industries and natural resources to foreign investors
and that include the education and media industry.

With global
economists warning that the US economy is heading back into recession
which could be more painful compared to the December 2007 recession,
Aquino is virtually inviting investors from that part of the world to
invade our country and dump to the trash bins local capitalists.

And
that is not without basis as Pamalakaya, quoting international wires,
claimed that the world stocks racked up more losses on Monday based on
rising worries about a double-dip global recession, deep-rooted jitters
over the current downgrading of US credit rating and the growing debt
problems across Europe..... MORE

08/11/2011
SINGAPORE — Asian economies
still scarred by the 2008 world recession are likely to have a harder
time grappling with a new round of turmoil than they did three years
ago, regional analysts said.

Fears of a new global meltdown are
growing after the United States received a credit downgrade for the
first time and markets tumbled on expectations that Italy and Spain
could join other European countries in seeking a bailout.

“Back in
2008, rotten debt in the banks was the problem,” Singapore’s DBS Bank
said in reference to global financial rescue measures that helped bring
economic growth back on track.

“Governments took the debt off the
banks — and spent a lot of money propping up economies — and now they
themselves are in trouble. That’s why the situation may be worse than
before: there’s no one left to turn to.”.... MORE

08/11/2011
An image of Jesus Christ with
an attached wooden replica of a male genital protruding directly over
His face. The genital is draped with a Holy Rosary, hanging by the base
and the tip of the replica. Is this art?

A Crucifix and Cross draped with a pink stretched condom. Is this art?

To a Crucifix is attached a red male organ. Is this art?

“Yes,
oh yes!” So says in substance a group of so-called “artists” exhibiting
the above consummate sacrilege! So essentially implies nothing less
than the “Pontifical” and “Royal” University of “Santo Tomas” indulging
the group whose products they are and who engage in the big blasphemy!
So basically claims the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) is
displaying the radical vulgarity instead at nurturing and promoting
Filipino positive cultural values as defined by its Mission Statement..... MORE

There
was a secret deal forged between President Aquino and Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) chieftain Al Haj Murad during the secret meeting
held in Tokyo last Thursday, after all.

MILF chief negotiator
Mohagher Iqbal made a freudian slip yesterday when he let out that the
agreement reached between the two parties was for the MILF to “reframe”
the discredited Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD)
which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2008.

Part
of the deal involving the “reframed MoA-AD,” which Iqbal hinted to
which Aquino during the secret meeting did not object, is that provinces
under the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and adjacent

areas
of North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur and Sultan
Kudarat and the municipalities of Balabac and Batarasa in Palawan
province, will be placed under the control of the Bangsamoro state
which will be sharing powers with the national government..... MORE

Former
First Lady and incumbent Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos yesterday said
former President Ferdinand Marcos is a hero who deserves to be buried
at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Mrs. Marcos, reacting to news
reports that her family had agreed to bury the former President in
Ilocos Norte, said she and Vice President Jejomar Binay have not agreed
on the burial site of the former President.

She said she and
Binay, who went to Ilocos Norte a few days back, had talked about
housing programs and not about the burial of the former President.

Vice
President Binay yesterday maintained there is nothing definite about
the controversial burial of the late President, stressing that his job
on the issue is purely recommendatory and that Malacañang has the final
say on the matter..... MORE

08/11/2011
Two cargo vessels have
collided off the coast of the southern Philippines, leaving two persons
missing and unleashing a small oil slick, the Coast Guard said
yesterday.

Two crew members of a locally-registered bulk carrier
are missing after it was in collision late Tuesday with the
Monrovia-registered container vessel HS Puccini off the southernmost tip
of the southern island of Mindanao, it said.

The much-larger Puccini rescued 16 crew from the smaller vessel while the another five swam to shore and safety, a coastguard statement said.

The
Puccini is sailing to the nearby port of General Santos as scheduled
with the rescued crew members, it said, while the exact status of the
other vessel was not specified..... MORE

The
Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) scored President Aquino for
questioning the sincerity of its political arm, the National Democratic
Front of the Philippines (NDFP), in the ongoing peace negotiations.
“The
Philippine government does not have the moral high ground to question
the sincerity of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)
in the peace talks,” the CPP said.

“How can Aquino question the
sincerity of the NDFP when it has been his government that has failed to
show good faith in peace talks after carrying out the arrest earlier
this year of at least two key NDFP peace consultants and failing to
fulfill its obligations to effect the release of at least 17 peace talks
consultants of the NDFP,” CPP pointed out.

The CPP-NDFP is
clamoring for the release of the consultants, including New People’s
Army (NPA) leader Tirso “Ka Bart” Alcantara and CPP Central Committee
member Alan Jazmines..... MORE

By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan 08/11/2011
Despite their bad artistic taste, President Aquino is not firing the
members of the board of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).

At
a press briefing yesterday, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said
that President Aquino is not inclined to heed growing clamor for the
purging of the CCP board which allowed the “Kulo” exhibit and even
publicly defending it, without due regard to religious sensitivities.

“There
is no action on our part, in the Palace, to do that,” Lacierda said
when asked if the President would sack the CCP board, or ask for their
resignation, for their oversight in allowing the exhibit of so-called
art pieces which practically desecrated the image of Jesus Christ.

Lacierda
said that it is already enough that the CCP management has decided to
finally close down the exhibit although the reason for doing so is about
safety issues and not about impropriety of the “Kulo” exhibit. The CCP
board even appeared remorseless and maintained that these so-called
artworks were part of an artist’s freedom of expression..... MORE

The
Department of Energy (DoE) yesterday warned oil companies they could be
sued if they do not roll back their prices by at least P2 per liter.

Secretary
Jose Almendras, who was at the House of Representatives to defend the
DoE’s P8.8-billion budget, said the roll back should be implemented
between now and Monday next week.

“We are expecting a P2 rollback
on their oil products until Monday. If not, we will ask them to explain
and the Department of Justice will take over for investigation for
possible action,” Almendras said yesterday in answer to Bayan Muna Rep.
Teddy Casiño’s query on whether the people could expect a price rollback
given the huge drop in the world market price.

Oil prices dropped from $120 last month to only $77 this month..... MORE

08/11/2011
Lawmakers yesterday lambasted
the Department of Health (DoH) for allowing the Philippine Children’s
Medical Center (PCMC) to collect personal items from their patients in
exchange for discharge slips.
According to Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy
Casiño, the practice at the PCMC has been going on since 2009 as shown
by a memorandum number 45 issued by PCMC Director Dr. Julius Lecciones.

Casino
said he will file a resolution to investigate the hospital and the DoH
for allowing such practice even as he showed Health Secretary Enrique
Ona copies of the memorandum circulars issued by Lecciones during
yesterday budget hearing on the DoH. Lecciones is an appointee of former
President Arroyo.

“This practice of public hospitals engaging in
pawnshop operations is very deplorable and we expect Secretary Ona to
immediately stop this. He should know what is happening in government
hospitals and the desperate practices they engage in just to shore up
their budgets. One way to stop this is to restore the budgets of our
public hospitals as contained in their original proposals. This means
raising the DoH budget by at least P20 billion,” Casiño said..... MORE